The present invention relates to a one-piece, resilient, stackable hanger adapted to secure cable to substantially flat supporting structures that define an aperture, such as a cross bar of an antenna tower, or another stackable hanger. The stackable hanger can straddle a cable and be easily installed by hand by squeezing, inserting, and snapping into an aperture to support the cable.
Hangers are known to attach cable or waveguides to a supporting structure, such as antenna systems and towers. Numerous hangers hold cable to supporting structures and are removably mounted in apertures, which are typically 0.75 inch. Hangers have been developed from one piece to ease installation with only one hand. Great advantages are derived from avoiding mounting hardware and tools. Prior one-piece hangers can be installed by hand and do not require additional hardware.
One type of hanger that can be attached to an antenna tower is shown in expired U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,132, which is incorporated herein by reference. The one-piece hanger is a resiliently yieldable U-shaped clip including two spaced-apart legs adapted to straddle an elliptical waveguide and snap into a hole of a supporting structure. Beverly Manufacturing Company also sold a hanger that was similar to this hanger, but was more rounded (rather than elliptical), had additional teeth and a small hole in the bridge to ease flexing. This unstackable hanger is shown in FIG. 3 of this disclosure as the uppermost hanger. Another hanger is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,402 that is not stackable, and the hanger has a slot that defines a torsion spring. All of these disclosures include similar legs and feet with detents that are similar to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, the center portions between the spaced-apart legs are distinct.
One of the shortcomings with certain hangers is that they cannot be readily used with multiple runs of cable. Often, it is advantageous to run multiple cables up a tower. Other cable hangers and systems were made for multiple runs of cable.
An early solution was a cluster mounting system shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,639. This generally is a band or strip whose ends are brought together wherein individual hangers are mounted side-by-side in apertures in the strip. Another solution was to make hangers stackable.
One set of related patents include U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,804; U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,543; and Patent Application Publication U.S. 2002/0005463A1 that show transmission line hangers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,804 discloses a transmission line hanger, but does not disclose a stackable embodiment. U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,543 shows a stackable embodiment with a lip on part of the aperture on an otherwise substantially flat mounting section. U.S. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2002/0005463A1 is a continuation-in-part of the application that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,543, which are both incorporated herein by reference. FIGS. 14 and 15 of the published application show a circular mounting hole and a lip surrounding the entire mounting hole on an otherwise substantially flat mounting section. This may disclose the closest prior art, but the mounting section and aperture are distinct from the present invention.
Other prior art devices are complicated and cumbersome and are inconvenient, awkward, and difficult to manufacture, handle and operate.
An object of this invention is to minimize the time and labor required to hang cable, especially multiple runs of cable. It has therefore been found beneficial to produce a one-piece hanger that can be easily and quickly used with only one hand. Also, it is significant to add additional hangers with cable to existing stackable hangers.
Moreover, it would be significant in the industry to provide a stackable hanger that provides a sturdy base for other hangers that are stacked on the first hanger. The present stackable hanger provides both coplanar bases and a recessed area between the coplanar bases to provide additional structural support and resistance to the stress of having a second hanger stacked on the first hanger.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.